Device for holding and locking hinged garage doors in their open position



June 17. 1924. 1,498,160

A. ERNST DEVICE FOR HOLDING AND LOCKING HINGED GARAGE DOORS IN THEIROPEN POSITVION Filed Dec. l2 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet l l Il fave/z for:jugusE//w rizy.

June 17, 1924. 1,498,160

A. ERNST DEVICE FOR HOLDING AND LOCKING HINGED GARAGE DOORS IN THEIROPEN POSITION Filed Dec. l2, 192] 2 Sheets-Shen.y 2

TES

Patented June 17, 1924.

UNITE-,D .STA

AUGUST ERNST, OF sra LOUIS, MISSOURI. 5 t

DEVICE non. HOLDING.` AND LOCKING iiINenipf en anonnooas IN THEIR OPENUPosI'rIoN. y,

Application filed December To al@ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, AUGUST ERNST, acitizen of the United States,residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have in-rvented a certain newand useful jDevice'for Holding and Locking HingedGaragey Doors in Their Open Position, of which the follow-A ing is aspecification. 4

My invention relates to a device for holding and locking a hingedgaragedoor in itsl open position, and, has for vits object to providesimple A'means lwhiclrwill hold and lockY a hingedy garage door in itsfopen position to preve'ntanypossible chance ofthe door being closed bya gust of windyor on its own accord. f i s `A further object of thekinvention is `tov provide a devicewhich will bev simple and inexpensivein constructionowing ,to the fact' that it can be made from pipe andpipe couplings, if desiredand which' will `be strong,`durable, out ofthe way and in everyl Way PlOve highly eiiicient forthe purposeintended. fw n scribed and finally pointed out `in the claims heretoappended.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification wherein like characters of `reference denotesimilar partsthroughout the several views:`

Fig. l, is a top plan view of a pair of hinged garage doors having my`invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2, vis a side elevation `of the device,'

, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.v

, Fig. 3, is a plan view. of the devicejwith portions thereof removed'.'"1

Fig. 4, is a detail of a swivel oint between` the door and the doorbrace-rod. .y

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the side walls of a garage made'from vsheet metal, or any other suitable material, "and, 2 represents apair of doors hinged, as at 3. 4 represents the front wall of the garageabove the doors 2, while 5 indicates a suitable cross piece, or supportconnected atopposite ends to the side walls 1 of the garage.

In carrying out the aim of my present invention, I employ a T-coupling 6which is suspended from the cross-piece 5 by means of the .pipeconnection 7 which is provided 1.2, 192:1.`v` serial No. 521,757.' f

yat its upperendv with a Inut 8. -The coupling 6 'is braced from the?front wall 4. by means of a pipe connection having afsuitable foot 10which is fixed to the wall Las clearly shown-infF ig. K2;V 11 indicatesav pipe connectiondepending from the coupling 6. 112 indicates a sleevecoupling which has screw V"threjiadedyconnection, as at'f13,.with thearm 145 ofthe sleeve 125so that itmay turn with relation tothe pipeconnection 11. In other wordsythesleeve 12 'is rotatably suspendedvfrorn the 'pipe connection 11, thus forming 21 SWlg'lloiht; asv 'ismanifest. The sleeve 12 is horizontally disposed and slidablymounted-withinl the sleeve 12 ,isn a suitable brace-rod '15, preferablymade from pipe. The forw-arduend' of thefbrace-rod `15 has screwthreaded 'connectionwitli one arm lof'an L-pipeclouplingllv The other,"arm 18' of the coupling is directed downwai-diy.` andhas screw-threadedconnection,

as at 19, with' thef upwardly directed arm`20 of the bolt`21, whichbolt'is fixed tothe door 2 by means of the? nut 22.- The: screw-'threaded connection 19v acts as 'a swing-'joint which permitsthevcoupling 17 to'turn :or vrotate uponl the arm 2Q when turned in'either directioinjasismanifest.` I i 'They rear ,free end of thebraceerod 15 is provided'witha cap 23'which actsas a stop whenitengagesthe rearface24cof the 4*sleeve 12. n

`In"order` tolock the vdoor 2 in. its open position, as shown in dottedlines in Fig. 1, I remploy 'af locking device consisting 4of a ,tube 25having screw-threaded connection at` one 'end with the horizontallydisposed `arm 26 ofthe sleeve 12and provided atits 'opposite end withacap 27 having anopening 28 for the passage ,of the'locking pin 29' whichis provided at its outer end with an Ieye-head 30.' `l`The Vinnerend'ofthe locking p iii'29 is guided by means ofthe rperforated plug31,l vasv show/nin Fig. 3i Encircling the piii 2'9withi`n the tube 25,is a ycoiled expair sion spring32 for automatically fforcing the innerend of the locking pin 29`into the opening'o'r passage''of thevbrace-rod F15 of which there may be one or more whenever the door 2 hasbeen opened to a point toy cause the opening or passage 33 to registerwith the locking pin 29. The pin 29 prevents the door 2 from beingclosed until it is extracted from the opening or passage 33 of thebrace-rod 15.

The means I employ for lextracting the pin 29 from the opening orpassage33 of the brace-rod 15, consists of a suitable chain, or cord 34:which passes over a suitable pulley 35. One end of the chain or cord isconnected to the eye-head 3070i the locking pin 29, while the oppositeend of the chain, or cord 34 is provided with asuitable weight 36 forkeeping the slack out of the chain, or cord. The pulley 35 is swivellysupported from a suitable bracket I37 ,which is suitably fixed to Atheside wall 1 of the garage.

When the garage doors v'are closed, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1,and it is desired to open them to their open position, as shown indotted lines in Fig. 1, the operator merely pushes, or pulls the doors 2open in the usual manner until they assume the position shown in dottedlines in Fig. 1. When the doors 2y have reached their open position, theopening or passage 33 of the brace-rods 15 have registered with thelocking pins 29'and the springs 32 will force the inner ends of thepins'` 2,9 into the openings or passages 33, thereby `Yr*locking thebrace-rods from movement-in either direction, hence holding the doorsfrom being closed by a gust of wind, `as is manifest.

When it is desired to close the doors, the operator `merely pulls downon chain 34 thereby withdrawing the locking in from the opening orpassage 33 of the brace-rod 15 which permits the doors to be readilyclosed, as is manifest.

It is evident from thev foregoing description that I provide a devicefor holding hinged garage doors open, that is simple in construction,easily installed, durable and highly efficient as it is certain in itsoperation under any and all conditions.

The many advantages of the herein described invention will readilysuggest themselves to those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to nthe exactdetails of construction and arrangement of parts as herein described andillustrated, as it is manifest that variations and modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and sco e of my invention and theterms of the ollowing claims, hence I wish it to be understood that Ireserve the right to make any such changes, or modifications as mayfairly fall within the scope of the appended claims when fairlyconstrued.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a garage door hinged at one of its side edges, ofan L-shaped bracket screw threaded at opposite ends and provided with anut at its lo-wer end for securely connecting said bracket to the door,a horizontally disposed brace rod having its outer end screw threadedand its inner end provided with lock pin openings, a right angularcoupling having screw threaded engagement with the upper end of the doorbracket and with the forward end of the brace rod to permit swingingmovement of the coupling and brace rod with relation to the bracket, asleeve for slidably supporting said brace rod, a sleeve supportingmember arranged above the brace rod, a screw threaded connection betweensaid sleeve and said sleeve supporting member to permit the sleeve toturn with relation to its supporting member when the door is beingopened and closed, a cap carried at the inner end of said brace rodadapted to engage the sleeve when the door is fully open and to act as astop for limiting the opening movement of the door, a laterally directedhousing carried by the sleeve, a locking pin passing through saidhousing, a coiled spring for controlling the locking movement of saidpin, a chain connected to the outer end of said pin, a pulley over whichsaid chain can ride and a weight fixed to the lower end Aof said chain.

2. The combination with hinged garage doors, of a brace rod for eachdoor having a latch opening, an angular swing joint connection betweeneach door and its respective brace rod, a horizontally disposed sleevefor slidably 'supporting each brace rod, supporting means arranged aboveeach brace rod, a swing joint connection between said supporting meansand the sleeve for slidably supporting the brace rods, a stop cap fixedto the inner end of each brace rod to limit the outward sliding movementof the brace rods, a spring controlled latch pin carried by each sleeveautomatically receivable in the latch opening of each brace rod whenthey register for locking the brace rods against displacement in eitherdirection thereby holding the doors in a locked open position and meanscomprising a chain, a pulley and a weight Jfor withdrawing the latchpins from the latch o-penings of their respective brace rods when it isdesired to close the doors.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to thespecification.

AUGUST ERNST.

